Needing a win to remain in contention for the finals, Batemans Bay 2nd Grade team were defending their declared first innings of 193, as they took to the field against Ulladulla United. Ulladulla resumed at 0-20.

Stand-in captain, Dan Smith needed something special from his bowling group, having lost both promising young quick, Sean Griffin, to back soreness, and dependable seamer, Josh Lee, who was injured at work during the week.

Praveen Varghese generated the initial breakthrough, trapping stalwart Terry Dorrell (19) in front, with the visitor’s score on 53.

Part-time off spinner, Anthony Mortimer immediately struck in the very next over, bowling equal top-scorer, A. Eggins for 35.

Mortimer’s second over saw the demise of captain, Tony Lavalle (4), bowled around his legs, to leave the visitors teetering precariously at 3-57.

Dan Smith’s nagging outswingers dried up the runs and eventually brought the wicket of Rocky Lavalle (35), with the score on 5-114.

Smith finished with the tidy figures of 1-20 from 8 overs. Much improved off-spinner, Lachlan Paterson bowled a searching spell, claiming 1-23 from his 9 overs.

Lachlan Croke’s left-arm unorthodox reaped one wicket, when he trapped Drew Ramsden in front for no score.

Leader of the bowling unit, Darcy Knight, bowled with controlled aggression and was again unlucky not to snare a bagful of wickets. He finished with 1-32 from 17 wholehearted overs.

Varghese finished with 3-39, mixing his seamers with a wily arsenal of spinning variations.

All up, no fewer than seven of the Ulladulla wickets to fall were unassisted – either bowled or LBW – highlighting the ability of the Batemans Bay bowling group to hit consistent straight lines and good lengths.

In their second innings, the home side lost three wickets for 59 as they chased bonus points. Anthony Mortimer remained not out on 36, taking his match aggregate to 61 runs.

The team will be looking for an improved catching effort as the jostle for semi-final positions intensifies over the remaining four competition rounds.

Batemans Bay travel to Bomaderry for Saturday’s Round 11 two-day fixture.

3rd Grade take outright points against Sussex Inlet

Resuming from the overnight score of 2-87 and already with a first innings lead, Batemans Bay looked to score quick runs to press home their advantage.

The early loss of James Dickinson for 32, with the score 3-92, brought Andrew Malcolm to the crease.

In a quick-fire innings of 55 – including 5 fours and three sixes – Malcolm featured in an 80-run partnership with Pat Griffin, 48 n.o.

With a lead of 118 runs Batemans Bay declared their innings closed at 5-183, to chase maximum outright points.

To get the outright victory the Batemans bay bowlers would have to be on song, and they did not disappoint. In-form youngster Lachlan Malcolm took another 4 wickets to add to his impressive recent figures, giving him 8 for the match. Paul Cullen was tight as ever taking 1-8 from 6 overs.

Young and rapidly improving leggie James Dickinson completed a good all-round match with 2-19, while other youngsters James Cashin and Luke Nikalajew each picked up a wicket.

Sussex Inlet were bowled out for 95 runs with only Geoff Benning offering any resistance with a defiant 44.

Batemans Bay were clinical on the field and won by an innings and 23 runs and remain clear competition leaders.

4th Grade withstand Berry pressure for strong win

Batemans Bay’s 4th grade side had to withstand a formidable batting partnership but eventually took control on the second day’s play against Berry to take first innings points.

Resuming at 2-34, and chasing the Bays total of 230, Berry batsmen Stewart Higginns (75) and Mike Howard (50) put on an impressive century stand to have the home side under pressure.

However, the tide turned for the Bay when century-maker Alex Woolridge dismissed both batsmen and followed up with two more quick wickets to turn the match around. The Berry lower order offered little resistance to be all out for 175.

The much improved Alex Woolridge had a great match, with a century in the first innings and taking 4-20 from 12 accurate overs. The other wickets were shared among the junior brigade with Jed Salmon (2-14), Kasper Matuschka (1-14), Josh Vanzetti (1-19), Luke Gallen (1-11) and Grace Blackmore (1-7).

The Batemans Bay fieldsmen never let up, maintaining pressure on Berry once the breakthrough was made, and were rewarded with seven catches taken. The Bay side now move to equal third position on the ladder.

Under 12s win in Bomaderry

The Batemans Bay U-12 side travelled to Bomaderry on Saturday and recorded a strong win.

The Bay side won the toss and sent Bomaderry in to bat, and soon had them in trouble. Opening bowlers Jackson Riley (4-1) and Kaleb Watson (2-3) ran through the Bomaderry batting line-up.

They were backed up by Josh Franklin (1-6) and Claudia Hannan, Deakin McPartland, Oliver King and Will McAteer, who all bowled very accurately to restrict Bomaderry scoring to a total of 29 runs.

Claudia Hannan opened the batting with Cooper Frawley, but she was unluckily dismissed early.

Frawley (15 n.o) had a good partnership with Oliver King to all but see the Bay home. The Bay totalled 3-31 for an impressive victory which sees them remain in first position on the competition table.

Under 11s great win over North Nowra

Batemans Bay hosted North Nowra – Cambewarra Blues in an exciting match at Hanging Rock on Saturday. The Bay won the toss and elected to bat first on a humid day.

The Bay batsmen were very impressive, having benefitted from some additional coaching over the Christmas break.

Openers Kayden Smith (13) and Archie Hancock (14) laid the platform for Bayley Kravstov (14) and Andy Frawley (21). The highlight and showing most improvement was Maddy Malcolm’s innings of 16 to top off the Bay’s total of 8 for 124 from 20 overs.

North Nowra padded up and were soon tied down by the tight bowling of Maddy Malcolm and Andy Frawley. Maddy completed a great match to take 1 for 18 from 5 overs, and Andy took 2-11 from 5 overs.

Kayden Smith took 1-15 from 5 overs and Archie Hancock and Bayley Kravstov both proved difficult to score off.

North Nowra batted well but came up just 20 runs short with a total of 6 for 104 in a pretty tight finish. Well done to both sides.